Parents of many faiths including Christians and Muslims, and others have united to protest the graphic sexual education program which was written by a child pornography producer. It is being forced on students from elementary school to highschool. In fact, this issue has touched the hearts of so many parents across so many religions that many have pulled out their children from school.

Pope Francis meets with members of the Science and Life Association. - OSS_ROM

30/05/2015 13:25

“The degree of progress of a civilization is measured by its ability to protect life, especially in its most fragile stages.”

These were the words of Pope Francis during an audience with the Science and Life Association, who are celebrating their 10th anniversary.The Holy Father began by thanking them for their service in promoting the protection of human life in a society marked by the negative logic of discarding.”

“The love of Christ urges us to become servants of the small ones and the elderly, of every man and every woman, through which the primordial right to life is recognized and protected,” he said.

The Pope encouraged the association to keep their gaze fixed on the sacredness of life and the human person, “so that science may truly be at the service of man, and not man at the service of science.”

Continuing his address, Pope Francis stressed that society’s progress is measured by its ability to protect life rather than technological advances. Attacks against life, he said, must never be forgotten.

“The scourge of abortion is an attack on life. Leaving our brothers on the boats in the Sicilian channel is an attack on life. Death at work is an attack on life because it does not respect the minimal security conditions,” the Pope said.

The 78 year old Pontiff also cited malnutrition, terrorism, war, violence and euthanasia as attacks on human life.

Concluding his address, Pope Francis urged the association to continue their work in promoting a culture of life. He also called on them to embark in fruitful dialogue with the world of science, even with those who profess as non-believers but “remain open to the mystery of human life.”

To make this dish more commemorative, the toast should be served with cotignac, a French quince marmalade paste that is an Orleans specialty. This extraordinary preserve was once flavored with musk and presented as a gift to visiting royalty. When Joan came to lift the siege of Orleans, cotignac was the first gift presented to her. Quinces or winter pears were one of the most popular fruits of the middle ages. The fruit is extremely sour and was primarily used in jams and marmalades. The best quinces come from Portugal and the Portuguese for quince is marmalo. Marmalade is based on the word marmalo since the first marmalade was made with quinces.

Pain Perdu (French Toast)

Ingredients

2 eggs3 TB sugar1 cup milkdash of nutmeg

3 TB butter2 medium slices of breadpowdered sugar for dusting toast

Instructions

Beat together egg and sugar; add milk and nutmeg.

Dip slices of bread in the egg mixture then fry in hot butter until browned on each side

Dust toast with powdered sugar

Cotignac

Ingredients

10 quinces or Pears4 oranges, pealed, and pips removed

1 to 2 cups sugarwater

Instructions

Wash the quinces to remove the 'bloom', then chop and place in a pot. Add the lemon juice and apple pips. Add enough water to barely float the fruit - at most, barely cover the quinces.

Peel, core and slice quinces.

Put 4 peeled, sliced and cored quinces into a pan with water not quite covering them. Bring them to the boil and cook for 30 minutes.

Strain through a colander, then the resulting juice through 2 thicknesses of muslin to extract as much juice as possible.

In the quince juice cook another 6 peeled, sliced and cored quinces, prepared oranges, skinned and Simmer for 1 hour, and put the mixture through a sieve, so as to obtain a thick puree; weigh the puree, add an equal quantity of sugar, return to the pan and cook until the mixture begins to come away from the sides.

Joan of Arc (1948) Unrated | 145 min | Biography, Drama, History | 15 April 1949 (Ireland) In the Fifteenth Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War against England. The fourteen years old farm girl Joan of Arc claims to hear voices from Heaven asking her to lead God's Army against Orleans and crowning the weak Dauphin Charles VII as King of France. Joan gathers the people with her faith, forms an army and conquerors Orleans. When her army is ready to attack Paris, the corrupt Charles sells his country to England and dismiss the army. Joan is arrested, sold to the Burgundians England and submitted to a shameful political trial in Rouen castle. - Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Director: Victor Fleming Writers: Maxwell Anderson (play), Maxwell Anderson (screenplay), 1 more credit » Stars: Ingrid Bergman, José Ferrer, Francis L. Sullivan |

Saint Joan of Arc Novena(say once a day for nine days) St. Joan of Arc,Filled with compassion,For those who invoke you,Filled with love for those who suffer,Heavily laden with the weight of my troubles,I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you,To take my present need,Under your special protection.(Mention your request here). Grant to recommend it,To the Blessed Virgin Mary,And lay it before the throne of Jesus.Cease not to intercede for me,Until my request is granted.

Above all, obtain for me,The grace to one day,Meet God face to face,And with you and Mary,And all the angels and saints,Praise Him through all eternity.O most powerful Saint Joan,Do not let me lose my soul,But obtain for me the graceOf winning my way to heaven,Forever and ever. Amen. Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be… (Repeat the prayer nine times.)The Litany of St. Joan of Arc Lord, have mercy on us! Jesus Christ, have mercy on us! Lord, have mercy on us!Jesus Christ, hear us! Jesus Christ, graciously hear us! Our Heavenly Father, Who art God, have mercy on us!Son, Savior of the world, Who art God, have mercy on us!Holy Spirit, Who art God, have mercy on us!Holy Trinity, Who art God, have mercy on us! Holy Mary, virgin Mother of God, pray for us.Our Lady of the Assumption, principal patron of France, pray for us.Saint Michael the Archangel, patron and special protector of France, pray for us.Saint Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and Martyr, pray for us.Saint Margaret of Antioch, virgin and Martyr, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, chosen by God at Domremy, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, informed [of her mission] by Saint Michael, the Archangel and his Angels,pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, compliant to the call of God, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, confidant and submissive to her voices, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, model of family life and labor, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, faithfully devoted to Our Lady, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, who delighted in the Holy Eucharist, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, model of generosity in the service to God, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, example of faithfulness to the Divine vocation, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, model of union with God in action, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, virgin and soldier, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, model of courage and purity in the field [of battle], pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, compassionate towards all who suffer, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, the pride of Orleans, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, glory of Reims, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, liberator of the Country, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, abandoned and imprisoned at Compiegne, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, pure and patient in thy prison, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, heroic and valiant before thy judges, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, alone with God at the hour of torment, pray for us.Saint Joan of Arc, Martyr of Rouen, pray for us. Saint Joan or Arc and Saint Therese of Lisieux patronesses of France, pray for us.All the Saints of France, intercede for us. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, ave mercy on us, Lord.Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, Lord.Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, Lord.Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us,that we may become worthy of the promises of Our Savior Jesus Christ. Let us pray: Oh God, Who hast raised up in an admirable manner, the virgin of Domremy, Saint Joan of Arc, for the defense of the faith and country, by her intercession, we ask Thee that the Church [may] triumph against the assaults of her enemies and rejoice in lasting peace; through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. ~~by Louis, Bishop of Saint Dié

Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 352

Reading 1SIR 51:12 CD-20

I thank the LORD and I praise him;I bless the name of the LORD.When I was young and innocent,I sought wisdom openly in my prayerI prayed for her before the temple,and I will seek her until the end,and she flourished as a grape soon ripe.My heart delighted in her,My feet kept to the level pathbecause from earliest youth I was familiar with her.In the short time I paid heed,I met with great instruction.Since in this way I have profited,I will give my teacher grateful praise.I became resolutely devoted to her—the good I persistently strove for.My soul was tormented in seeking her,My hand opened her gateand I came to know her secrets.I directed my soul to her,and in cleanness I attained to her.

Responsorial PsalmPS 19:8, 9, 10, 11

R. (9ab) The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.The law of the LORD is perfect,refreshing the soul.The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,giving wisdom to the simple.R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.The precepts of the LORD are right,rejoicing the heart.The command of the LORD is clear,enlightening the eye.R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.The fear of the LORD is pure,enduring forever;The ordinances of the LORD are true,all of them just.R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.They are more precious than gold,than a heap of purest gold;Sweeter also than syrupor honey from the comb.R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.

AlleluiaSEE COL 3:16A, 17C

R. Alleluia, alleluia.Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;giving thanks to God the Father through him.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelMK 11:27-33

Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem.As he was walking in the temple area,the chief priests, the scribes, and the eldersapproached him and said to him,“By what authority are you doing these things?Or who gave you this authority to do them?”Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question.Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”They discussed this among themselves and said,“If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say,‘Then why did you not believe him?’But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–they feared the crowd,for they all thought John really was a prophet.So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”Then Jesus said to them,“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

- Audience with the prime minister of Slovenia: continue constructive dialogue and the process of national reconciliation

- Plenary session of the Pontifical Council for New Evangelisation: people expect the Church to walk with them and bear witness to faith

- Pope Francis' prayer intentions for June

- The Financial Intelligence Authority strengthens the system of international cooperation

- Audiences

- Other Pontifical Acts

Audience with the prime minister of Slovenia: continue constructive dialogue and the process of national reconciliationVatican City, 29 May 2015 (VIS) – This morning the Holy Father Francis received in audience the prime minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Miro Cerar, who subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by His Excellency Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States.In the cordial discussions the good relations between the Holy See and the Republic of Slovenia were highlighted, and the Parties confirmed their common will to continue constructive dialogue on bilateral themes regarding the relations between Church and State, with particular reference to the process of national reconciliation, human and religious values, and joint collaboration to promote the common good of society and of the poorest.

Plenary session of the Pontifical Council for New Evangelisation: people expect the Church to walk with them and bear witness to faithVatican City, 29 May 2015 (VIS) – “New evangelisation means becoming aware of the Father's merciful love so that we too may become instruments of salvation for our brothers”, said the Pope this morning, as he received in audience the participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, dedicated to the relationship between evangelisation and catechesis. Francis has entrusted the preparation of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy to this dicastery, so that it “is made clearer that the gift of mercy is the announcement that the Church is called to transmit in her work of evangelisation in this time of great change”.These changes represent a “happy provocation” to respond to “the signs of the times that the Lord offers to the Church, so that she is able – as she has been for two thousand years – to bring Jesus Christ to humanity in our times. The mission is always identical”, the Pope observed, “but the language used to proclaim the Gospel asks to be renewed, with pastoral wisdom. This is essential both for it to be understood by our peers and to enable Catholic tradition to speak to cultures in today's world and to help them open up to the perennial fruitfulness of Christ's message. These are times of great challenges, which we must not be afraid of making our own. Indeed, only to the extent to which we are able to take them on will we be able to offer answers which are coherent by virtue of being elaborated in the light of the Gospel. This is what people expect of the Church today: that she knows how to walk with them, offering the company of witness of faith, creating solidarity between us all, and especially the loneliest and most marginalised”.This awareness, which is sown into the heart of every Christian from the day of his or her baptism, “wishes to grow, along with a life of grace … and it is here that we find the great theme of catechesis as a space within which the life of Christians matures as it experiences God's mercy. This is not an abstract idea of mercy, but rather a concrete experience by which we understand our weakness and the strength that comes from above. … The help we invoke is already the first step of God's mercy towards us. … The Holy Spirit, the agent of evangelisation … opens the mind of the disciples of Christ to understand more deeply the commitment required and the forms by which substance and credibility can be given to witness”.Therefore the question of how to educate in faith “is not rhetorical, but essential. The answer requires courage, creativity and decisiveness, to follow at times unexplored paths. Catechesis, as a component of the evangelisation process, needs to go beyond the merely scholastic sphere in order to educate believers, since childhood, in encountering Christ, living and working in His Church. It is the encounter with Him that inspires the desire to know Him better and thus to follow Him so as to become His disciples. The challenge of new evangelisation and catechesis therefore hinges on this cardinal point: how to encounter Christ, and the most coherent place to find Him and follow Him”.

Pope Francis' prayer intentions for JuneVatican City, 29 May 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father's universal prayer intention for June is: “That immigrants and refugees may find welcome and respect in the countries to which they come”.His intention for evangelisation is: “That the personal encounter with Jesus may arouse in many young people the desire to offer their own lives in priesthood or consecrated life”.

The Financial Intelligence Authority strengthens the system of international cooperationVatican City, 29 May 2015 (VIS) – The Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria (AIF) – Financial Intelligence Authority – of the Holy See and the Vatican City State has presented its Annual Report for 2014. The report reviews the activities and statistics of the AIF for the year 2014.2014 has seen a continuous strengthening of the legal and institutional framework of the Holy See and the Vatican City State to regulate supervised entities, fostering international cooperation of the Vatican competent authority with its foreign counterparts and to consolidate the prevention and countering of potential illicit financial activities.“With the introduction of Regulation No. 1, we have completed the prudential supervisory framework of the Holy See and Vatican City State,” said Rene Bruelhart, President of AIF. “By signing Memoranda of Understandings (MOUs) with other Financial Intelligence Units of 13 countries, including Australia, France and the UK as well as with the Regulators of Germany, Luxembourg and the United States of America, we have also massively strengthened international cooperation.”The reporting system has been consolidated after having received 6 suspicious transaction reports (STR) in 2012, 202 in 2013 and 147 in 2014. Such development is a consequence both of the full implementation of the legal framework and of the substantial improvement in the operational performance of the supervised entities with regard to the prevention of financial crime. 7 reports have been passed on to the Vatican Promoter of Justice for further investigation by judicial authorities. The number of cases of bilateral cooperation between AIF and foreign competent authorities has increased from 4 in 2012 to 81 in 2013 and 113 in 2014. “This continuous increase is a result of the systematic efforts undertaken by AIF as well as the strong commitment of the Holy See and the Vatican City State to cooperate actively with other jurisdictions to prevent and combat potential illicit financial activities globally,” said Tommaso di Ruzza, Director of AIF.Since 2012, the number of declarations of outgoing cash above the amount of EUR 10,000 has steadily decreased from 1,782 (2012) to 1,557 (2013) and 1,111 in 2014. Declarations for incoming cash have also decreased from 598 (2012) to 550 (2013) and 429 in 2014. This is due to an increased monitoring by the competent authorities and the introduction of reinforced procedures at the supervised entities.In the initial trimester of 2014, AIF conducted the first ordinary on-site inspection of the IOR to verify the implementation of the measures taken to prevent and counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism pursuant to Law No. XVIII of 8 October 2013. “The first on-site inspection of the IOR is an important consequence and a concrete sign of the effectiveness of the AML/CFT system adopted by the Holy See and the Vatican City State”, said Tommaso Di Ruzza. “To follow closely the implementation of and compliance with the new prudential regulatory framework by the supervised entities will be one of the key tasks of AIF in the near future”.The inspection has shown no fundamental shortcomings at the IOR. As a result of the inspection, AIF has developed an action plan for the full and systematic adjustment of existing procedures to the required standards in accordance with Law No. XVIII.Information on the AIFThe Financial Intelligence Authority is the competent authority of the Holy See and the Vatican City State for supervision and financial intelligence for the prevention and countering of money-laundering and financing of terrorism.Established by Pope Benedict XVI with the Apostolic Letter in form of Motu Proprio of 30 December 2010, AIF carries out its institutional activity according to the Statute adopted by Pope Francis on 15 November 2013 and to Vatican City State Law No. XVIII, of 8 October 2013, on transparency, supervision and financial intelligence.In 2014, AIF signed MOUs with Argentina, Australia, Cyprus, France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Peru, Poland, United Kingdom, Romania, San Marino and Switzerland. In previous years, AIF had already signed MOUs with Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and the United States of America. AIF is a member of the Egmont Group since 2013.

AudiencesVatican City, May 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father received in audience:- King Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II of the Ashanti in Ghana, and entourage;- Archbishop Roberto Luckert Leon of Coro, Venezuela.

Other Pontifical ActsVatican City, May 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Rev. Fr. Benny Mario Travas as bishop of Multan (area 98,705, population 38,400,000, Catholics 198,000, priests 16, religious 36), Pakistan. The bishop-elect was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1966 and was ordained a priest in 1990. He holds a licentiate in canon law from Pontifical Urbanian University of Rome and has served in a number of pastoral and academic roles in the archdiocese of Karakchi, including vicar general, rector of the St. Pius X minor seminary, lecturer at the National Catholic Institute of Theology, judge of the ecclesiastical tribunal, and member of the college of consultors and presbyteral council. He is currently apostolic administrator of the diocese of Multan.

France; martyrs; captives; militants; people ridiculed for their piety; prisoners; soldiers; Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service; Women's Army Corps

Savior of France and the national heroine of that country, Joan of Arc lives on in the imagination of the world as a symbol of that integrity of purpose that makes one die for what one believes. Jeanne la Pucelle, the Maid, is the shining example of what a brave spirit can accomplish in the world of men and events. The saint was born on the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1412, at Domremy, a village in the rich province of Champagne, on the Meuse River in northeast France. She came of sound peasant stock. Her father, Jacques d'Arc, was a good man, though rather morose; his wife was a gentle, affectionate mother to their five children. From her the two daughters of the family received careful training in all household duties. "In sewing and spinning," Joan declared towards the end of her short life, "I fear no woman." She whose destiny it was to save France was a well-brought-up country girl who, in common with most people of the time, never had an opportunity to learn to read or write. The little we know of her childhood is contained in the impressive and often touching testimony to her piety and dutiful conduct in the depositions presented during the process for her rehabilitation in I456, twenty-five years after her death. Priests and former playmates then recalled her love of prayer and faithful attendance at church, her frequent use of the Sacraments, kindness to sick people, and sympathy for poor wayfarers, to whom she sometimes gave up her own bed. "She was so good," the neighbors said, "that all the village loved her."

Joan's early life, however, must have been disturbed by the confusion of the period and the disasters befalling her beloved land. The Hundred Years War between England and France was still running its dismal course. Whole provinces were being lost to the English and the Burgundians, while the weak and irresolute government of France offered no real resistance. A frontier village like Domremy, bordering on Lorraine, was especially exposed to the invaders. On one occasion, at least, Joan fled with her parents to Neufchatel, eight miles distant, to escape a raid of Burgundians who sacked Domremy and set fire to the church, which was near Joan's home.

The child had been three years old when in 1415 King Henry V of England had started the latest chain of troubles by invading Normandy and claiming the crown of the insane king, Charles VI. France, already in the throes of civil war between the supporters of the Dukes of Burgundy and Orleans, had been in no condition to resist, and when the Duke of Burgundy was treacherously killed by the Dauphin's servants, most of his faction joined the British forces. King Henry and King Charles both died in 1422, but the war continued. The Duke of Bedford, as regent for the infant king of England, pushed the campaign vigorously, one town after another falling to him or to his Burgundian allies. Most of the country north of the Loire was in English hands. Charles VII, the Dauphin, as he was still called, considered his position hopeless, for the enemy even occupied the city of Rheims, where he should have been crowned. He spent his time away from the fighting lines in frivolous pastimes with his court.

Joan was in her fourteenth year when she heard the first of the unearthly voices, which, she felt sure, brought her messages from God. One day while she was at work in the garden, she heard a voice, accompanied by a blaze of light; after this, she vowed to remain a virgin and to lead a godly life. Afterwards, for a period of two years, the voices increased in number, and she was able to see her heavenly visitors, whom she identified as St. Michael, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret, the three saints whose ages stood in the church at Domremy. Gradually they revealed to her the purpose of their visits: she, an ignorant peasant girl, was given the high mission of saving her country; she was to take Charles to Rheims to be crowned, and then drive out the English! We do not know just when Joan decided to obey the voices; she spoke little of them at home, fearing her stern father's disapproval. But by May, 1428, the voices had become insistent and explicit. Joan, now sixteen, must first go quickly to Robert de Baudricourt, who commanded the Dauphin's forces in the neighboring town of Vaucouleurs and say that she was appointed to lead the Dauphin to his crowning. An uncle accompanied Joan, but the errand proved fruitless; Baudricourt laughed and said that her father should give her a whipping. Thus rebuffed, Joan went back to Domremy, but the voices gave her no rest. When she protested that she was a poor girl who could neither ride nor fight, they answered, "It is God who commands it."

At last, she was impelled to return secretly to Baudricourt, whose skepticism was shaken, for news had reached him of just the sort of serious French defeat that Joan had predicted. The military position was now desperate, for Orleans, the last remaining French stronghold on the Loire, was invested by the English and seemed likely to fall. Baudricourt now agreed to send Joan to the Dauphin, and gave her an escort of three soldiers. It was her own idea to put on male attire, as a protection. On March 6, 1429, the party reached Chinon, where the Dauphin was staying, and two days later Joan was admitted to the royal presence. To test her, Charles had disguised himself as one of his courtiers, but she identified him without hesitation and, by a sign which only she and he understood, convinced him that her mission was authentic.The ministers were less easy to convince. When Joan asked for soldiers to lead to the relief of Orleans, she was opposed by La Tremouille, one of Charles' favorites, and by others, who regarded the girl either as a crazy visionary or a scheming impostor. To settle the question, they sent her to Poitiers, to be questioned by a commission of theologians. After an exhaustive examination lasting for three weeks, the learned ecclesiastics pronounced Joan honest, good, and virtuous; they counseled Charles to make prudent use of her services. Thus vindicated, Joan returned full of courage of Chinon, and plans went forward to equip her with a small force, A banner was made, bearing at her request, the words, "Jesus Maria," along with a figure of God the Father, to whom two kneeling angels were presenting a fleur-de-lis, the royal emblem of France. On April 27 the army left Blois with Joan, now known to her troops as "La Pucelle," the Maid, clad in dazzling white armor Joan was a handsome, healthy, well-built girl, with a smiling face, and dark hair which had been cut short. She had now learned to ride well, but, naturally, she had no knowledge of military tactics. Yet her gallantry and valor kindled the soldiers and with them she broke through the English line and entered Orleans on April 29. Her presence in the city greatly heartened the French garrison. By May 8 the English fort outside Orleans had been captured and the siege raised. Conspicuous in her white armor, Joan had led the attack and had been slightly wounded in the shoulder by an arrow.

Her desire was to follow up these first successes with even more daring assaults, for the voices had told her that she would not live long, but La Tremouille and the archbishop of Rheims were in favor of negotiating. However, the Maid was allowed to join in a short campaign along the Loire with the Duc d'Alencon, one of her devoted supporters. It ended with a victory at Patay, in which the English forces under Sir John Falstolf suffered a crushing defeat. She now urged the immediate coronation of the Dauphin, since the road to Rheims had been practically cleared. The French leaders argued and dallied, and finally consented to follow her to Rheims. There, on July 17, 1429, Charles VII was duly crowned, Joan standing proudly behind him with her banner.

The mission entrusted to her by the heavenly voices was now only half fulfilled, for the English were still in France. Charles, weak and irresolute, did not follow up these auspicious happenings, and an attack on Paris failed, mainly for lack of his promised support and presence. During the action Joan was again wounded and had to be dragged to safety by the Duc d'Alencon. There followed winter's truce, which Joan spent for the most part in the company of the court, where she was regarded with ill-concealed suspicion. When hostilities were renewed in the spring, she hurried off to the relief of Compiegne, which was besieged by the Burgundians. Entering the city at sunrise on May 23, 1430, she led against the enemy later in the day. It failed, and through miscalculation on the part of the governor, the drawbridge over which her forces were retiring was lifted too soon, leaving her and a number of soldiers outside, at the mercy of the enemy. Joan was dragged from her horse and led to the quarters of John of Luxembourg, one of whose soldiers had been her captor. From then until the late autumn she remained the prisoner of the Duke of Burgundy, incarcerated in a high tower of the castle of the Luxembourgs. In a desperate attempt to escape, the girl leapt from the tower, landing on soft turf, stunned and bruised. It was thought a miracle that she had not been killed.

Never, during that period or afterwards, was any effort made to secure Joan's release by King Charles or his ministers. She had been a strange and disturbing ally, and they seemed content to leave her to her fate. But the English were to have her, and on November 21, the Burgundians accepted a large indemnity and gave her into English hands. They could not take her life for defeating them in war, but they could have her condemned as a sorceress and a heretic. Had she not been able to inspire the French with the Devil's own courage? In an age when belief in witchcraft and demons was general, the charge did not seem too preposterous. Already the English and Burgundian soldiers had been attributing their reverses to her spells.In a cell in the castle of Rouen to which Joan was moved two days before Christmas, she was chained to a plank bed, and watched over night and day. On February 21, 1431, she appeared for the first time before a court of the Inquisition. It was presided over by Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais, a ruthless, ambitious man who apparently hoped through English influence to become archbishop of Rouen. The other judges were lawyers and theologians who had been carefully selected by Cauchon. In the course of six public and nine private sessions, covering a period of ten weeks, the prisoner was cross-examined as to her visions and voices, her assumption of male attire, her faith, and her willingness to submit to the Church. Alone and undefended, the nineteen-year-old girl bore herself fearlessly, her shrewd answers, honesty, piety, and accurate memory often proving embarrassing to these severe inquisitors. Through her ignorance of theological terms, on a few occasions she was betrayed into making damaging statements. At the end of the hearings, a set of articles was drawn up by the clerks and submitted to the judges, who thereupon pronounced her revelations the work of the Devil and Joan herself a heretic. The theological faculty of the University of Paris approved the court's verdict.

In final deliberations the tribunal voted to hand Joan over to the secular arm for burning if she still refused to confess she had been a witch and had lied about hearing voices. This she steadfastly refused to do, though physically exhausted and threatened with torture. Only when she was led out into the churchyard of St. Ouen before a great crowd, to hear the sentence committing her to the flames, did she kneel down and admit she had testified falsely. She was then taken back to prison. Under pressure from her jailers, she had some time earlier put off the male attire, which her accusers seemed to find particularly objectionable. Now, either by her own choice or as the result of a trick played upon her by those who wanted her death, she resumed it. When Bishop Cauchon, with some witnesses, visited her in her cell to question her further, she had recovered from her weakness, and once more she claimed that God had truly sent her and that the voices had come from Him. Cauchon was well pleased with this turn of events.

On Tuesday, May 29, 1431, the judges, after hearing Cauchon's report, condemned Joan as a relapsed heretic and delivered her to the English. The next morning at eight o'clock she was led out into the market place of Rouen to be burned at the stake. As the faggots were lighted, a Dominican friar, at her request, held up a cross before her eyes and, while the flames leapt higher and higher, she was heard to call on the name of Jesus. John Tressart, one of King Henry's secretaries, viewed the scene with horror and was probably joined in spirit by others when he exclaimed remorsefully, "We are lost! We have burned a saint!" Joan's ashes were cast into the Seine.

Twenty-five years later, when the English had been driven out, the Pope at Avignon ordered a rehearing of the case. By that time Joan was being hailed as the savior of France. Witnesses were heard and depositions made, and in consequence the trial was pronounced irregular. She was formally rehabilitated as a true and faithful daughter of the Church. From a short time after her death up to the French Revolution, a local festival in honor of the Maid was held at Orleans on May 8, commemorating the day the siege was raised. The festival was reestablished by Napoleon I. In 1920 the French Republic declared May 8 a day of national celebration. Joan was beatified in 1909 and canonized by Benedict XV in 1919.SOURCE: EWTN - Image - Google Images

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says an authentic faith is open to others and forgives and urges God to help Christians and the Church not to succumb to a selfish, sterile and profiteering type of religion. His words came during his morning Mass celebrated on Friday (May 29th) at the Santa Marta residence.

Jesus condemns spiritual egoism

Taking his inspiration from the day’s readings, the Pope’s homily reflected on three proposed ways of living out our lives, using the images of the fig tree that produces no fruit, the dealers in the temple and the man of faith. He said the fig tree symbolizes a sterile life that is unable to give anything or be good to others.

“It (the fig tree) lives for itself, calm, selfish, it doesn’t want any problems. And Jesus curses the fig tree because it’s sterile, because it has not given of itself to produce fruit. It symbolizes a person who does nothing to help (others), who always lives for him or herself, as long as nothing is lacking. In the end these people become neurotic, all of them. Jesus condemns a sterile spirituality, a spiritual egoism. ‘I live for myself and may I lack nothing and the others can fend for themselves.’”

Don’t make religion a business

Pope Francis said the second way of living was that practiced by the profiteers, the dealers in the temple who were busy changing money and selling animals for sacrifice. He said they are the people who make religion a business because they used God’s sacred site to trade and do deals. There was also the story of a priest who urged the faithful to make offerings and collected a lot of money, even from poor people. The Pope stressed that Jesus did not mince his words when he drove the dealers out from the temple, saying “’My house shall be a house of prayer but you have turned it into a bandits’ den.’

“The people who went on a pilgrimage there to implore the blessing of our Lord, to make a sacrifice: Those people there were exploited! The priests were not teaching them to pray or giving them a catechesis… it was a den of thieves. Pay and come in … they were performing the rites in an empty way without piety. I don’t know… maybe we’d do well to reflect on whether we encounter similar things going on in some places. It’s using God’s things for our own profit.”

Faith helps others to do miracles

The third way of living, the Pope continued, was a life of faith as shown by Jesus. Having faith and praying to God helps bring about miracles.

“This is the lifestyle for a person with faith. ‘Father, what must I do for this?’ ‘Ask the Lord who will help you to do good things and with faith. But there’s one condition: when you begin praying to ask for this thing, if you bear a grudge towards somebody, pardon that person. This is the sole condition because your Father who is in heaven also pardons us for our sins.’ This is the third way of living. It’s faith, a faith to help others to draw closer to God. This faith creates miracles.”

Pope Francis concluded his homily with a prayer to God that “He may teach us this life of faith and that he helps each of us and the Church never to succumb to sterility and profiteering.”